Saving lives through medicine and film

The idea sounds crazy at first – providing medical training through films?

But spend just a few minutes with one of the doctors behind the fledgling charity Medical Aid Films, and it starts to sound a lot less crazy and a little more ingenious.

Take childbirth, for instance, one of the organization’s main priorities, and the focus of its first animated training film. In many developing countries, “most women get birthed by untrained women,” said Dr. Natalie Greenwold, an obstetrician and one of the founders of Medical Aid Films.

And many practices used by these untrained birthing attendants in India are also often used in countries in Africa, she said.

One particularly dangerous one: cutting the umbilical cord with a rock and sealing the ends with cow dung. In a newborn, this can lead to sepsis and death.

It’s things like this that Greenwold and the other founders of Medical Aid Films are hoping to change by making their training films and literature widely available in developing countries.

The goal: achieving high impact with simple measures. “It’s about education,” said Greenwold. “Education cannot be stolen. And it’s sustainable. It stays after you leave.”